Child Abuse

Child Maltreatment and Parental Substance Abuse
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Determining if and when parental substance abuse should be reported to a CPS agency is a difficult but important issue. To make such a determination, it is necessary to understand the requirements related to mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect.

Parental Substance Abuse : Family Assessment
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
The assessment process for any troubled family that has come to the attention of professionals should involve an inquiry that addresses both the problem of substance abuse and the problem of child maltreatment.

Definitions, Scope, and Effects of Child Sexual Abuse
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Child sexual abuse can be defined from legal and clinical perspectives. Both are important for appropriate and effective intervention. There is considerable overlap between these two types of definitions.

Child Protection in Families Experiencing Domestic Violence
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Domestic violence is a devastating social problem that affects every segment of the population. While system responses are primarily targeted towards adult victims of abuse, increasing attention is now focused on the children who witness domestic violence

Children in Substance Abusing Families
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
As the incidence of alcohol and other drug abuse becomes more visible in our Nation, parental substance abuse is increasingly recognized as a significant factor in cases of child maltreatment.

Prevention of Child Neglect
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
The tragic consequences of child neglect suggest that significantly greater efforts should be directed toward prevention. Prevention requires the development of a range of services to parents at risk of neglect and their children, who are potential

Children of Chemically Involved Parents: Special Risks
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Polysubstance abuse. Most substance abusers use multiple drugs or drugs, alcohol, and nicotine in combination. In some cases, this polysubstance abuse may occur without the user's knowledge because it is common practice among street dealers to substitute

Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
by CDC
The ACE Study findings suggest that these experiences are major risk factors for the leading causes of illness and death as well as poor quality of life in the United States.

That Was Then ...
A Brother's Journey; Surviving a Childhood of Abuse
by Richard B. Pelzer
In A Child Called It Dave Pelzer described the terrible treatment he received at the hands of his mother and his brother Richard. Fortunately for Dave, he was removed from the Pelzer household by the time he was twelve years old.

Child Maltreatment on Brain Development : Implications for Practice and Policy
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
The knowledge we have gained from research examining the effects of maltreatment on brain development can be helpful in many ways. With this information, we are better able to understand what is happening within the brains of children who have been abused

Educators' Role in Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Each day, the safety and well-being of some children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families is not the sole responsibility of any single agency or professional

Child Abuse Signs and Symptoms
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
The first step in helping abused or neglected children is learning to recognize the signs of child abuse and neglect. The presence of a single sign does not prove child abuse is occurring in a family; however, when these signs appear repeatedly or in comb

Acts of Omission: Child Neglect
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
More children suffer from neglect in the United States than from physical and sexual abuse combined. In spite of this, neglect has received significantly less attention than physical and sexual abuse by practitioners, researchers, and the media.

An Open Letter to Parents Who Abuse Their Children
by John D. Moore, MS, CADC
As a therapist, substance abuse counselor and most important, a human being, nothing is more painful than hearing the first hand accounts of extreme childhood physical abuse as told by adult survivors living in the here and now.

Chapter 1
The Unsayable: The Hidden Language of Trauma
by Annie G. Rogers, Ph.D.
In her twenty years as a clinical psychologist, Annie Rogers has learned to understand the silent language of girls who will not - who cannot - speak about devastating sexual trauma. Abuse too painful to put into words does have a language

Goodbye, California
A Teenager's Journey: Overcoming a Childhood of Abuse
by Richard B. Pelzer
Would I ever stop being more than miserable at simply being alive? Was I really about to remove the gun from my pocket? I'd resolved that once I did that, I'd use it as quickly as possible. I didn't want to think about it or wonder about it anymore ...

Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
In addition to trying to help families in which maltreatment is suspected, the involvement of educators in reporting child abuse and neglect is guided by Federal standards and regulations and mandated by State and local laws, which identify

Fathers and Case Planning : Child Abuse
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
There is little literature on the rehabilitation of fathers who have maltreated their children, as well as the role that fathers can play in helping children who have been abused.

Support After the Child Abuse Report : What Schools Can Do
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Reporting suspected cases of maltreatment is just the beginning of the child protection process. Treatment, rehabilitation, strengthening the family, and preventing future abuse still lie ahead.

Fathers' Impact on Child Maltreatment
by Child Welfare Information Gateway
A father in the home can be a strong protective factor for children. A father also may play a role in child maltreatment. This chapter first looks at the definition and impact of child maltreatment and presents data on the perpetrators of child abuse